Your mortgage appointment is essentially a fact finding exercise for your mortgage adviser. He will take some time to get to know you, your borrowing needs and your financial situation. Your adviser has a huge amount of knowledge about how you will be assessed for borrowing by the lenders.
Based on the information you give to your adviser he will do an affordability assessment to give you an idea of the level of borrowing you will be able to achieve.
If you decide to proceed with a mortgage application the lender will require evidence of your income and your outgoings. Lenders also assess the risk of their lending based on credit checks. Your adviser will go through your monthly income and financial commitments and gather from you all the relevant documentation. He will take copies of and verify these documents and send them to the lender on your behalf.
The documentation required by the lenders which your adviser will need to review and verify is detailed below.
Credit Checks:
Obtaining a report on your credit rating independently will have no adverse effect on your rating and is a very useful indicator as to what a lender would see at the point of application. It is also very useful for your adviser to see if there are any detrimental factors that he needs to consider.
Most lenders will use Experian.co.uk and we recommend that you download your credit report and bring it with you to your mortgage appointment. Visit www.creditexpert.co.uk , scroll down the page and select ‘start my 30 day trial’ . You will need to enter your details and your credit or debit card but if you cancel your trial within 30 days no payment will be taken from your account. Run and download your report to share with your adviser – this will make you both aware of any issues that will arise when applying for a mortgage.
Bank Statements:
Most lenders will now expect your adviser to be able to prove that your expenditure and income are at the level as stated on your mortgage application. It is therefore necessary for you to request three months bank statements from your bank. If you now manage your financial and banking affairs online and therefore do not receive paper copies of your statements through the post, then we can accept downloaded statements but they must include your name, address and account details.
Evidence of Income
If you are employed your adviser will need – Payslips, P60’s & P45’s: Lenders will now require you to submit your three most recent payslips and your most recent P60. If you have not been in your current job for more than three months, then a copy of your P45 and your new contract, along with the details of your previous employer will normally suffice.
If you are self-employed, lenders will require your two most recent tax year calculations and overviews (these can be printed from you HMRC online account) if they are available and you have been trading for long enough to have them. If you do not have three, or have not been trading that long, then bring what you have.
If you are retired then your adviser will need evidence of your income – this could be pension statements for example.
Identification:
Along with an electronic check, your adviser will need to take a copy of either a driving licence or valid passport and one document that proves that you live at the address you have given on you mortgage application. This could be a utility bill, a letter from your bank or local authority and must be less than three months old
Proof of Deposit:
Most lenders now require proof of where the deposit that you intend to put down on your next property is coming from. If the money is in a bank account then your adviser will need to take a copy of the last three month’s bank statements relating to that account. If the money is coming from the equity that you have in your existing property then a copy of your latest mortgage statement would be needed. If the money will be coming from investments, then the latest statement/valuation from the investment company should be brought to the appointment